Foliage plants that are easy to grow!

I remember when the boys were babies and both David and Andy were really small it was tough to keep them both entertained here in Castle Street. So, I would bundle them up when it got too tiring for me and drive down to Mum and Dads place on Hayes Road. The huge garden kept them happy for hours till the sun went down. I remember especially when they had the chicken pox and the lesions must have driven them crazy with the itching. I would shake the leaves of the Alocasia -- the heart shaped leaf would move rapidly from side to side and for some reason made David especially laugh at it a lot! So for a long time I would carry him on my hip and shake the leaf and keep him entertained. They are easy to grow and make great balcony beautifiers!

Then recently we went for a wedding in a large hotel off the old Airport road and while we waited for our car to be brought by the valet Bonny and I oggled the long line of the most beautiful Anthurium Flamingos.They were so perfect that Bonny argued for a bit saying they were not real! They are beautiful, lovely to keep in the shade and make the most delightful display of flowers if happy!

And then we went for a few days a couple of months ago to the Kairali Spa resort in Gokarna. The garden there was a delight and I asked for a piece of the most beautiful Epipremnum Marble Queen -- I thought it was just a variegated Money plant! Anyway the pieces I brought have grown marvelously and I am not looking for a moss stick to grow it on where it will make a marvelous display. In the resort they grew it up a tree and so each leaf turned massive and looked amazing. Just a little piece from the plant, stick it in the soil and there mine is growing well in a pot filled with compost made from my kitchen waste.

The romance of the Steam Engine!

As kids we always travelled by train across the length and breadth of India.Dad was in the services and every holiday we travelled to see my grandparents who were in Bangalore and in Baroda.

What I loved was the gunpowder smell of the smoke of the engines and I always stuck my head close to the bars on the windows to look at the steam puffing out of the engine as it took its twists and turns in the journey. The huge clouds of black smoke coming out of the engine never failed to make us children gape.

Life has changed today. We have those ugly Deisel engines which have no style and class of the steam engine. Lucky you can still experience the steam engine especially in the hill-stations across India.Last year we jumped onto the little toy train from Lovedale to Ooty and back. It was an experience to remember!

The gift that was Mario Miranda

Caption: The sorpatel arrives





These brilliant intricate cartoons drawn by the legendary cartoonist Mario Miranda was sent to me by another Mario Miranda! Imagine having identical names which is really a rare occurrence among us Goans. Both Marios were my Dads school chums in St Joseph's High School in Bangalore. One was the cartoonist Miranda who lived in Mumbai and then retired in his village Lutolim, in Goa and the second Mario lived in a fairy tale house on St Mark's Road in Bangalore. Today the ugly House of Lords stands in place of a house I always adored as a little girl with its lilly pond and terraced garden around this stately home which had a very unusually coloured mauve Bouganvillea.
I do not have a picture of the house, but it still is there in my minds eye with the two tall rain trees on the road which thankfully still stand.
Mario the cartoonist was loved across the world for his art and his amazing gift can be seen in the images uploaded for all to enjoy.

Adopt a doggie off the road!

CUPA had the launch of their calendar recently at Sunny's with a lot of the glitterati of Bangalore in attendance. The concept they are promoting is simple and makes a lot of sense.
Adopt a dog off the road rather than buy the classic breeds which are on sale in the city.
Good concept and a lot of families were present telling the gathering how adoption has changed their lives and made such a difference to both the animal and them.

They had the gorgeous model Apoorva and musician Raghu Dixit the founder-frontman of the band Antaragni to release the calendar.

Thats my picture! I guiess if you have good looking subjects you do get good pics!